Slightly-Spicy Three Bean, Tomato and Kale Soup

This soup has the richness of a minestrone and the benefit of being Good forYou!

For some extra ‘zing’ – right before serving – sprinkle soup with a bit of Italian Three-Cheese Blend (Parmesan, Asiago & Romano).

Every time I develop a new recipe, I’m always hoping the end result equals the flavors I’d envisioned. And I must say I’m very pleased with this Slightly-Spicy Three Bean, Tomato and Kale Soup. It’s super easy to prepare and makes quite a bit, which is always a plus. Simmering this soup for an hour allows the peppery flavor of the kale to stand out, and the broth becomes slightly creamy due to starches in the kidney, black and garbanzo beans. ++ I decided not to add any meat to this soup, but, of course, you could add some chopped chicken or beef if you choose. But this soup is so hearty, I think you really won’t miss the meat at all !

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup roughly chopped red pepper

3/4 cup roughly chopped red onion

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 cups kale, roughly chopped ++ Cut out the thick stems running down the center of the leaf.

++ Italian Three-Cheese Blend – OR – any type of Italian grated cheese to sprinkle on top

METHOD

In a large Dutch Oven (or large cooking pot such as you would use to boil pasta) cook 3/4 cup roughly chopped red pepper and 3/4 cup roughly chopped red onion in 2 Tbs. olive oil over medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes… or until veggies begin to look translucent. ++ There’s no need to worry about under-cooking or over-cooking the red pepper or onion, they’ll finish cooking in the broth. Add 2 large cloves garlic, minced – continue cooking for about another minute.

Waiting for soup to come to a simmer….

After about an hour…. that is, if you’ve been able to wait for the full hour ….. you’ll have a big pot of yummy soup to share with your neighbors. Which is what I love to do. PS I also shared some of my Honey Walnut Bread, which I just L.O.V.E. – recipe for that coming soon. ENJOY !!

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My Yellow Farmhouse - Cooking with Love!

Sure, it's necessary to eat to survive - but that's not any fun!! The fun comes from cooking, serving and eating with lots of love,
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Thanks for taking the time to comment. I think you’ll like this soup! On another note, IF we don’t have a groundhog this year, then I’d love to plant some kale!! (Last year we had a mother…. and five babies….. It was NOT fun !! ; o )

Glad you think you’d like this soup and may try it! I was so pleased with how it turned out. And don’t forget that sprinkle of a bit of Parmesan (or any hard Italian cheese) at the very end. After a hard day of blogging and ‘mucking out winter stalls’ – this soup will ‘Do You Good’… As my grandmother and mother used to say!

Thanks so much for your lovely comment! I just heard, via a Facebook post, that one of neighbors (with whom I shared some of this soup) loved it. That always make me feel good ! Oh – I just saw you posted this recipe on Facebook – I sooo appreciate that. Let me know how you like the soup and if you have any suggestions etc. (Gonna go follow the link you posted – thanks again!)

When this soup first began simmering, the flavor was sort of ‘fine’…. as in, “Yeah, that’s fine…” but it wasn’t ‘delicious’ at that point. But after simmering away for an hour, I was pretty darn happy – the taste is very much like a good, hearty minestrone …. with a bit of zing !

Thank you Mimi ! I didn’t think I was a big fan of kale, until I made this soup ! Right now it’s only 9:30 a.m. but I (unusually) got up so early I just might eat some of this soup in about an hour. I made – for the 3rd time – a really great honey and walnut loaf to go with this soup… but… for the 3rd time… the loaf came out way to big for one pan. I thought perhaps I’d goofed on the measurements but it seems not. So – I’m ‘gonna give it one more try’ – and this time I’ll bake two loaves instead of one. Which is NOT a bad thing!